Binding Blues

Well.  I am here to tell you that binding ANYTHING, whether it is a napkin or a quilt is NOT my favorite thing to do. However, after searching the internet from stem to stern, watching about a dozen binding videos, and applying myself rigorously to learn how to do this - since I love piecing things together and they have to be finished somehow - I have cobbled together a binding for my runner.

After all my research, I decided that bias cut was the only way to go.  I worked furiously on Sunday to cut, piece together, and press mountains of binding:

And then thanks to Julie, over at Jaybirdquilts.com, I picked up the following fabulous tip:

Hair clips to hold everything together!  Here's another shot:

Feeling pretty smug with the clip trick, I began sewing the binding to the back...after which I brought it around to the front and machine stitched it close to the edge to finish...I am NOT into hand stitching anything.  What resulted was a roller-coaster edge, wavy and just ugly.  So, rip out, press again, and start over.  After two rounds of that battle, I wound up using Steam-A-Seam to attach it to the front.  Nothing I did would remove the waviness, and it is still slightly wavy (although pretty) on my dining room table.  I've resolved to go with straight cut seam binding from now on - I think it was too stretchy from being cut on the bias!

Here's a link to Julie's tutorial on binding:     Binding tutorial at Jaybird Quilts

Now, back to the workroom!

Cranking the Engines

So, now it's time to work!  This is what I've been doing since coming to Atlanta...cleaning out six years of neglect, mold, mildew, dust and -UGH!- rat and squirrel poop from my poor house.

Here's a before shot of the graphics and sewing side of my workroom/studio on March 3:

Pretty awful.  Just open the door and throw it in for years while I tended to the store in North Carolina.  After a couple of day's work, this is what it looked like:

Getting better!  So, today, after spending ALL DAY yesterday cleaning up the new office area I will be using for the graphics and computer work, I decided to crank my creative engines and get started on some multi-panel table runners:

I'm going to make these quilted runners about 90" long and they'll finish out at about 14" wide.  Now that they're all cut, I'm going to put them in the washer for a few minutes to take the sizing out.  After they've dried, I'll start sewing them together and figuring out what to use for the backs.  And the binding!  I have to find enough fabric to be able to cut it on the bias without buying any more fabric.  That's the rule.  I just sold a fabric store, for crying out loud!